In the rapidly growing computer industry, the keyboard of a computer terminal has become an element of concern because of its relatively high cost and the necessity of obtaining flexibility for the numerous applications in which it may be used. Keyboards generally comprise a structural base for housing and supporting the various elements of plural keyswitches. Each keyswitch includes a pair of contacts, a movable switch framework, and a biasing element which provides automatic separation of the contact upon release of the switch framework. The base in which the plural keyswitches are housed is typically a one-piece plastic molding having a plurality of individual receptacles for the plural keyswitch element. The keyswitch and base shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,751,618 is typical of such installations, and that patent is hereby incorporated herein by reference. The structural base is manufactured, typically by a molding process which requires a unique die corresponding in shape to each different keyboard configuration. Because the structural base supports and guides the elements of the keyswitch, it includes intricate shapes, and thus the molding dies are expensive.
Because, in the prior art, the keyboard arrangement dictates the structural base configuration, keyboard designs must be carefully considered before a die is made. Once a structural base is designed and its die manufactured, it is very difficult and costly to change the keyboard configuration. Furthermore, it is highly impractical to modify keyboard structural bases which have already been manufactured. Thus, due to the difficulty of changing the structural base, the keyboard manufacturer is constrained, both from a design flexibility standpoint and with regard to modification of keyboard configurations after manufacture.
For these reasons, it would be advantageous to provide a structural base design which did not suffer from these inadequacies, and which could be produced at low cost.